Rocky Mountain High

What a fantastic weekend! It was relaxing, fun, got a little shopping in and spent the day in the pure Rocky Mountain air.

We left Friday morning and headed to the airport. Reid was so excited about going to the airport, but was a little confused when she couldn't just walk on to a plane. She kept asking, over and over, "Is that our plane? That's our plane. Is that our plane?" We flew Southwest, so with the stampede seating, we ended up two rows apart - me with Reid and Damon and Jackson two rows behind us. Reid talked ALL THE WAY TO COLORADO. She couldn't figure out what she wanted to do - watch a movie, play Leapster, not watch a movie, not play Leapster, look out the window, not look out the window, eat her peanuts, not eat her peanuts, and ask over and over and over, "Where is my Diet Coke." Her greatest quote, as we came out of the clouds to land, "We're off the map, Mommie."

We arrived and picked up the rental car, which proved to be another concept Reid couldn't wrap her head around. "Whose car is this? Are we taking somebody's car? Is this our car? Where is our car?" We tried to explain that we were borrowing the car, but she was convinced we were going to get in trouble for taking the car.

Friday evening, we hung out with our friends, the Knight family, at a nice little park not far from their house in Highlands Ranch. We cooked burgers, let the kids get really dirty, and just relaxed. Saturday, the Knight's boys - Buddy and Zach - had football games, so Jackson went with them and we headed out to do a little shopping. We hit Archivers, Wolf Camera, and took Reid to Build-A-Bear. We ended up in a nice outdoor mall that had our favorites - Apple, Williams-Sonoma, Hallmark, and a few other stops. Reid enjoyed the one-on-one time with Mom and Dad and loved the fact she was in Build-A-Bear getting just about anything she wanted.

Sunday morning we loaded up two cars and headed into the mountains to Winter Park. What a fantastic place! We bought all-day, unlimited passes to the activities and the kids (and adults) had a great time. We were able to ride the ski lift, bungie trampoline, gyro, human maze, putt putt golf, and the alpine slide. The alpine slide was slide down the mountain. We got in a little sled, that could be controlled with a joystick, and when flying down the mountain. Reid insisted on riding by herself, so I let her, but told her she had to ride behind me so I could control her speed. That little snot kept ramming my sled. I would speed up and she would speed up more, ram my sled, throw her head back and cackle. Jackson and the other two boys went down the faster of the two slide and they were just flying. Damon and Randy were also on the fast slide and everyone was having way too much fun.

After a little shopping, we headed down the mountains and stopped to eat in Idaho Springs. We tried to get a little pizza at Beau Jo's, but the wait was 45 minutes and with hungry, tired kids and adults, we opted not too wait and ate an Italian place across the street.

Sunday night, we stopped to see a friend of Damon's from high school - Jason and Danna Spohn. They were very welcoming and Jackson was in heaven because they had an xBox and two arcade games - Ms Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Reid feel asleep on the couch. I got to drool over Danna's scrapbooking ROOM.

Monday morning, we said goodbye to the Knight family and met high school friend of Damon's, Christie and her husband Patrick for breakfast. It was nice to meet them and take some time to visit.

We headed to the airport and had no problems dropping off the car, getting through security and getting to our gate. Reid was equally excited about flying home and loved the bus, train and getting back on the plane. Both kids sat down, relaxed and were out cold before we even got to cruising altitude.

It was a nice trip. Thank you Knight family for a great weekend. We will be back!